University in Dammam draws fire for making a mockery of research

DAMMAM — A research conducted at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam has drawn a barrage of criticisms and ridicule for claiming that the sound waves produced while uttering “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) have the power to extinguish fire.

Professor Abdullah Al-Qadhi, deputy dean of Studies, Development and Community Service, said the university supported all types of innovative ideas that can make a positive impact socially. He even said the university was ready to conduct live experiments to prove or disprove any hypotheses.

Some of the university officials described the conclusions of the study as scientific evidence to back a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in which he was quoted as saying, “If you see a fire, then say the takbeer (Allahu Akbar) for the takbeer will extinguish it.”

Al-Qadhi said technology could transform the methods of extinguishing fire and sound waves could be an example.

Dr. Hani Al-Sayed, one of the lead researchers of the project, insisted that the hypothesis was successfully tested in the US two years ago. However, he did not announce it at the time for fear of drawing ridicule from the public, he said, adding that his findings were patented by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and would be registered soon.

Several tests were conducted on the theory with the participation of 60 persons of different nationalities who speak Arabic. Some of the uttered phrases had a frequency of 125 hertz but “Allahu Akbar” had the highest frequency ever, Al-Sayed said.

He said he did not discover any device that could extinguish a fire but has theoretically proved that human voice at specific frequencies could produce energy strong enough to extinguish a fire.

A physics professor at the university, who requested anonymity, said the purported invention as “an act of deceit”, which is not scientifically proved. He said human voice has a very frequency and it cannot extinguish any fires.

Dr. Sulaiman Aba Al-Khail, a member of the Senior Board of Scholars, said the Hadith upon which the researcher based his hypothesis was a weak one.